Massive Tony Khan blunder at Grand Slam Australia; Major AEW controversy addressed by former WWE champion

A former WWE champion addressed a noticeable blunder by Tony Khan at the AEW Grand Slam Australia event. Wrestling veteran Stevie Richards also raised concerns regarding the safety of talents.

The AEW President Tony Khan recently produced the first-ever Australian event in his company's history. The Grand Slam in Brisbane was a TV special that was aired in the US on 15th February after being taped before. Aside from some amazing matches on the show, the small size of the ring also became the topic of discussion.

The former WWE Hardcore Champion, Stevie Richards also gave his thoughts on the ring size controversy that has been the talk of the town all over the internet. Speaking on The Stevie Richards Show, the former bWo member stated that he noticed how Grand Slam Australia had a different ring than usual:

"The ring, it felt lower, I gotta look back at it, but it felt like it was lower which gave me another clue that it wasn't the same exact ring. Now this whole thing, you've talked about the ticket controversy, you talked about all the stuff with promoting it as a pay-per-view or as a TV and the confusion for months over that."

Stevie Richards further raised safety concerns with the small ring saying Tony Khan should've done something about it first:

"This has to be one of the first things you should do because this is the number one safety factor and I'm not getting like... I'm not clutching my pearls or anything, I'm just saying the first thing that I want to do is make sure we have our ring so our talent does not potentially get hurt." [From 01:47 to 02:25]

Check out the video below:

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Tony Khan's promotion announced a huge return for next year

The AEW Grand Slam Australia 2025 turned out to be a successful show despite all the negative discourse online. The show ended with Toni Storm regaining the Women's Word Title and fans were immensely happy. After the success of the show in Brisbane, Tony Khan's promotion already announced their next show in Australia in 2026.

Moreover, the tickets for the 2026 show in Australia show are already out and only time will tell what the show will be called next year.

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While using any quotes from the first half, please credit 'The Stevie Richards Show' and give H/T to 'Sportskeeda Wrestling' for transcription.